World Series, Football Combine for More Than 30 Million Viewers Sunday Night

Packers-Vikings beats Red Sox-Cardinals in demos, but it's a close finish in total viewers

Sports dominated the broadcast ratings landscape on Sunday night, with an NFL overrun and Game 4 of the World Series lifting Fox to victory. Baseball, at least in the prelims, outdrew NBC’s powerhouse “Sunday Night Football,” though the latter prevailed in key demos.

Preliminary, affiliate-based national estimates from Nielsen are always murky for live sporting events, but the World Series on Fox averaged a 4.4 rating/11 share in adults 18-49 and 15.4 million viewers overall on Fox’s stations from 8 to 11 p.m., with these numbers expected to rise a bit in the nationals. This is easily the highest-rated game of this Fall Classic, and the most-watched Game 4 since the 2009 series between the Yankees and Phillies.

Head-to-head, the World Series beat “Sunday Night Football” in total viewers (15.4 million to 14.9 million), but the pigskin action could edge ahead in the nationals. In the metered-market overnights for primetime, the World Series beat football, 10.5/16 to 9.9/16.

The Green Bay Packers’ victory over the Minnesota Vikings on “Sunday Night Football” averaged a 5.6/12 in 18-49 and 14.9 million viewers overall on NBC’s stations from 8:30 to 11 p.m., with these numbers expected to rise in the nationals. This could be the lowest-rated game of the season for the NBC franchise.

Football and AMC’s “Walking Dead” will finish as Sunday’s top two primetime programs in 18-49. Last week, the zombie drama did a 7.1 demo rating.

Elsewhere, ABC’s lineup was up slightly week to week, with “America’s Funniest Home Videos” (1.4/4 in 18-49, 6.1 million viewers overall) rising three-tenths at 7. “Once Upon a Time” (2.2/5 in 18-49, 7.0 million viewers overall) was up a bit as well, while “Revenge” (1.5/3 in 18-49, 5.6 million viewers overall) held at last week’s level. At 10, rookie drama “Betrayal” (1.0/2 in 18-49, 3.4 million viewers overall) remains low but appears to have grown slightly in young adults for a second straight week.

CBS had football in some markets until 7:30 p.m. ET, so its numbers could be adjusted in the nationals. In the prelims, “60 Minutes” averaged a 1.5/4 in 18-49 and 10.3 million viewers overall, followed by “The Amazing Race” (1.7/4 in 18-49, 8.2 million viewers overall), “The Good Wife” (1.4/3 in 18-49, 9.1 million viewers overall) and “The Mentalist” (1.3/3 in 18-49, 8.8 million viewers overall). This would mark the second straight week that “Good Wife” was only a bit behind “Revenge” in the 18-49 demo.

It’s not like there going against the best TEAMS in the world, from JAPAN, FRANCE, ENGLAND, POLAND, RUSSIA, EGYPT, IRELAND, ISRAEL, CHINA and the small nation of Watunga in the NE part of the South Pacific! It’s just cheap USA baseball teams, looking for a quick buck $!